returning to iraq, the problem is iran, with maliki's concurrence, is arming the assad regime as fast as it can to counter this belated effort by the americans. >> rose: last word, dexter. >> well, i guess i'd phrase the answer in a negative way. i fear if we don't get involved more deeply in syria, then we are going to lose any leverage that we might have when assad falls. and he probably will fall at some point.ll and then what? the guys with the most guns are going to be the guys that get into power. and is that going to be the bad guys or is it going to be our friends? and so i think that's the danger at this point. that's the choice. >> rose: and is it relevant that people who used to say this about the balkans, if you do not do something, history will judge you badly? >> well i think we learned from iraq that maybe that's not the case. i think-- i think-- you know, if we're talking about lessons i here, that the lesson of iraq may have been how badly an intervention could go iraq taught us one lesson. but i think bosnia taught us another one. that's been a pretty successful inte